Just days after shareholders at UBS’ annual meeting accused the bank’s chairman of telling fairy tales, leaders from Switzerland’s other big bank, Credit Suisse, took to the same stage in confident mood as they faced their own investors today.

Incoming Credit Suisse chairman Hans Doerig

While Peter Kurer was bizarrely confronted by a shareholder armed with a big red book, which turned out to be Grimm’s Fairy Tales, as he prepared to step down as UBS’ chairman last week, his counterpart at Credit Suisse, Walter Kielholz, today underlined to shareholders the bank’s positive comparative share price performance and capital strength as he took the stage at Zurich’s Hallenstadion.

Kielholz had already partly won over shareholders attending the Credit Suisse annual general meeting with the promise of “mineral water and confectionery” during the event, before striking a positive tone in his comments on the bank’s performance and prospects.

On Credit Suisse’s Sfr10bn tier one fundraising from existing shareholders late last year, Kielholz said: “The preservation of our capital strength was of decisive importance. The ability to rapidly and flexibly strengthen our capital base clearly distinguished Credit Suisse from its peers in 2008.”

He noted the recent outperformance of the bank’s shares relative to other banks saying: “The market has started to differentiate between Credit Suisse and the many banks that have reduced risks to a lesser extent, were less transparent in disclosing their positions, were slower and less focused in adjusting their business models, offered less security in terms of capital strength and refinancing, and significantly diluted shareholders. The market is now separating the wheat from the chaff.”

Kielholz, who said he will step down as chairman after six years with “a degree of nostalgia as well as a certain satisfaction”, also mounted a robust defence of Credit Suisse’s investment banking business, which he said “first positioned the big [Swiss] banks as global players and raised the international profile of Swiss banking”.

Credit Suisse chief executive Brady Dougan echoed Kielholz in lamenting last year’s operating losses and admitted the bank made mistakes, but also pointed out its strong competitive position.

He said: “I believe we have made significantly more progress versus our competitors in the last two years than in the previous five…Credit Suisse is exceptionally well positioned to take advantage of the opportunities that exist today.”

Dougan described Credit Suisse’s 14.1% tier one capital ratio at the end of the first quarter as “a tremendous competitive advantage; it gives us enormous flexibility by allowing us to continue expanding our client franchise and to take advantage of targeted growth opportunities”.

He added: “We hope and believe we have been a positive force throughout the crisis, and ultimately, we believe we have made significant strides in increasing the value of your company.”

Dougan said Credit Suisse has one of the “cleanest” balance sheets among banks after cutting its positions in troubled asset classes not by shifting them from the trading book to the banking book but “by selling them, by taking our medicine and marking them down”.

He also reiterated his belief in Credit Suisse's revamped investment banking model and identified opportunities to gain market share in Swiss wealth management.